Not to mention being paid big $$$ to fish said product. In any sport that can often mislead folks into thinking that is what that particular pro prefers over any other product in the marketplace. Say for example purposes only...Daiwa would pay KVD $500,000 a year to exclusively fish their rods and reels for all of his tournaments and public events. However Quantum will pay him $1,000,000 to fish there products. Point is sometimes it is the dollars talking when it comes to products. Scott Martin and Okuma comes to mind as well. I would also be willing to bet companies are only willing to sponsor x number of anglers each year and when that number is met they politely turn away others.
On a side note when KVD is being shown on the BPS fishing show (the name escapes me) ... isn't he fishing BPS brand rods and reels and not quantums? Perhaps I am mistaken but i thought I saw this in a few episodes. This would imply he like most of us, would fish with whatever we were paid to promote.
FWIW I have reels by shimano, Daiwa, quantum, Abu, Okuma, Lews, and Pfleuger though most are shimano and Daiwa. Point is there is a difference between fishing a product because you feel it is best and fishing a product because you are being paid a larger sum of money to do so.
When purchasing equipment buy what you like best and what you think fits the mold of what you are trying to do and not what others prefer. Getting advice from pro staffers is only good once you have came to the conclusion that a product within that rod or reel line is the right choice for you. They likely own darn near ever rod and reel in their product line and sometimes duplicates. Otherwise you are getting very biased advice.
Quantum has been around for a very long time. If they made truly poor products they would be out of business. While many may not care for their product offerings or certain products they still do well in the under $250 price range for reels. I still have a few energy reels that are going strong after 15 years.
